Book Review; Between the Lives by Jessica Shirvington

Between the Lives by Jessica Shirvington
Published by Orchard Books
I received this courtesy of the publisher

Above all else, though I try not to think about it, I know which life I prefer. And every night when I Cinderella myself from one life to the next a very small, but definite, piece of me dies. The hardest part is that nothing about my situation has ever changed. There is no loophole.

Until now, that is...

For as long as she can remember, Sabine has lived two lives. Every 24 hours she Shifts to her ′other′ life - a life where she is exactly the same, but absolutely everything else is different: different family, different friends, different social expectations. In one life she has a sister, in the other she does not. In one life she′s a straight-A student with the perfect boyfriend, in the other she′s considered a reckless delinquent. Nothing about her situation has ever changed, until the day when she discovers a glitch: the arm she breaks in one life is perfectly fine in the other.

With this new knowledge, Sabine begins a series of increasingly risky experiments which bring her dangerously close to the life she′s always wanted... But just what - and who - is she really risking?

What would you do if every day at midnight you switched lives to become a different person? This is what Sabine goes through every day, in one life she is a perfect daughter and student with a perfect boyfriend, and in the other she is a girl who does what she likes without worrying about the consequences. Sabine lives with the strange ability always dreading the shift until one day she breaks her arm and it does not carry through into the other life. This kicks off a series of reckless experiments but when things go to far Sabine ends up in a mental hospital and meets Ethan.

With a thought provoking plotline Jessica Shrivington really know how to write a powerful book that packs a good gut-punch.  I was so enamoured in this book that I flew through it in a day. With such compelling dynamic characters I found it impossible to not fall deeply in love with it. Ethan was my favourite character with his slightly dark aura but constant respect for Sabine he really made the book for me. I just got all mushy over him. He constantly gave Sabine the support and advice she really needed, they just made such a beautiful couple and their romance was heart wrenching. It made me cry. 

Sabine was also a really relatable character I completely felt for having to deal with such a difficult situation and resorting to such drastic measures that she felt was way to fix things. I was left slightly confused though as to why Sabine was the only one who shifted, it was never explained why she shifted or if she was the only one. This was something I could deal with but I think it would have added the to the story if it was explained a little bit more. I really just chalked it up to Sabine having no idea why she shifted so it wasn’t mentioned.

To sum things up this book was just amazing, it pushed all the right buttons for me, touching my heart and making me think about decisions I would make if I was in Sabine’s situation. I would definitely recommend this to any and would like a compelling story that they won’t want to put down.